He was 18 years old and part of the throng of Americans gathered to watch the funeral train of Robert F. Kennedy pass along the East Coast in 1968. Standing atop a box car, Mr. Fausti was suddenly electrocuted and set afire by overhead wires, and tumbled to the ground.
Two years of medical care followed, costing $200,000 for his blue-collar family, which had no insurance. Mr. Fausti recalls the Kennedy family discreetly helping his father with the bills.
He could see Senator Kennedy perennially fighting for health care, even as the debate descended to the cartoon travesties of Harry and Louise.
This time around, Mr. Fausti hopes Senator Kennedy, critically ailing with brain cancer, lives to see his current Capitol friends find the courage to catch up with other nations and enact health care. “It’s about time, don’t you think?”
clipped from: www.nytimes.com